Coupons provide benefits to manufacturers and consumers. For example, coupons are a beneficial way for manufacturers to test consumer interest in specific products, determine optimal pricing, and move out older inventory. Mail by the postal system, newspapers, and stores usually serve as outlets for providing coupons to consumers. Consumers benefit because coupons are universally accepted, follow GS1 (including Uniform Commercial Code) guidelines, are easily understood by consumers, and require no prior notification to a retailer.
However, there are several disadvantages to using coupons. These include, for the consumer, the labor and time expended in clipping and organizing coupons. For the manufacturer and retailer, the manual clearing of coupons is labor intensive and may not provide vital market intelligence for weeks or months. Extended barcodes, providing useful marketing intelligence to manufacturers, are not captured by retailers and therefore not available to manufacturers until the coupon completes the manual clearing process. Mistakes in printing of coupons also can last for the duration of a promotion.
Accordingly, there is a need for a fast, convenient way for processing coupons and quickly providing comprehensive market intelligence to retailers and manufacturers. Embodiments of the invention satisfy this need and others.